ESTU eyes new developments in transplantation

16 March 2013

At the session of the EAU Section of Transplantation Urology (ESTU), new developments were discussed ranging from implementing consensus guidelines in the near future to promising research prospects on transplant tolerance and immunology.

The session meeting illustrated the efforts with which the section tries to tackle the biggest problems in transplantation. In his opening address, ESTU chairman Prof. Arnaldo Figueiredo (PT), expressed ESTU’s aim to promote the relevance of transplantation for urology.

“Transplantation is often seen as a niche, but although it is a specialty, it is very interesting for urologists. This year we will organise a course on transplantation for urologists to get that point across,” said Figueiredo.

Dr. Enrique Lledo-García (ES) discussed the National Spanish Consensus Document of expanded criteria for donor kidneys. This was a collaborative effort, including major Spanish scientific organisations, to make homogeneous recommendations in order to increase the number of kidney transplants, reduce complications, and eventually lower the costs of transplant procedures.

Another major issue in transplantation is complications of immunosuppression. Prof. Archil Chkhotua (GE) presented the study results on transplant tolerance. He concluded that, although these initial study results are promising, the question in the title of his presentation (“Transplant tolerance: myth or reality?”) remains unanswered.

Chkhotua: “At this point, the tolerance protocols are too complex and have limitations – the biggest being that tolerance has only been achieved with living donors.”

Nonetheless, the studies showed that delayed tolerance protocols might be applicable in a large population of already transplanted patients for whom a live donor is available. According to Chkhotua, this is the most promising conclusion from the studies.